Last week we looked at the significance of the structure of the Genesis creation account and its association with the Sabbath and a seven day week.
The seven day week amongst Israelites was rather unique considering they were leaving Egypt which had a 10 day week. This was another means of getting Egyptian traditions, gods, fleshpots, etc. out of the soon to be formed Israelite nation.
400 years in Egypt had substantially affected their culture, identity and religion.
Another purpose of the Creation account was to establish the Creator’s ascendancy over the previous gods they had encountered and would encounter. Instead of a gods of the sun, moon, water, etc.
The God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob was instead the Creator of all these things.
Then as a defining covenant a seven day week was given to the Israelites with its Sabbath to set them apart from all surrounding nations.
In ancient times weeks of all different lengths existed.
An eight-day week was used in Ancient Rome and possibly in the pre-Christian Celtic calendar. Traces of a nine-day week are found in Baltic languages and in Welsh. The ancient Chinese calendar had a ten-day week, as did the ancient Egyptian calendar.
A six-day week is found in the Akan Calendar. Several cultures used a five-day week, including the 10th century Icelandic calendar, the Javanese calendar, and the traditional cycle of market days in Korea. The Igbo have a "market week" of four days. Evidence of a "three-day week" has been derived from the names of the days of the week in Guipuscoan Basque.
More recently and once again likely in an effort to create a national difference and establish a break from the past:
Between 1929 and 1931, the USSR changed from the seven-day week to a five-day week.
In 1931, after its brief experiment with a five-day week, the Soviet Union changed to a six-day week.
The calendar was abandoned 26 June 1940 and the seven-day week reintroduced the next day.
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Globally we have eventually gravitated towards and settled on the 7 day week because it is astronomically and therefore calandarically superior.
The discussion of the astronomical significance of a 7 day week is a complex topic and best left to its own post.
Now let’s delve a little deeper into the other books of Moses to see if the literary structure that seems so apparent is utilized elsewhere.
Right off the bat we notice that Moses’s life is broken up into 3 periods of 40 years:
- In Egypt being raised as a prince of Egypt
- In Midian receiving his spiritual training and preparation for his mission
- Leading Israel in their sojourn in the wilderness.
The account of the plagues of Egypt in Exodus.
There were ten plagues of Egypt.
We see that they are divided into a very similar literary structure as with the creation account, except this time there are three groupings of three and one final one that once again breaks that pattern for emphasis.
Plagues 1, 4, and 7 are to be communicated to Pharaoh in the morning.
Plagues 2, 5, and 8 are to be communicated to Pharaoh at no stipulated time.
Plagues 3, 6, and 9 are initiated without warning.
Moses is then forbidden to see Pharaoh again and the final plague is unique and stands alone.
This is a very beautiful structure, there are many more intricacies to it as you analyse the complex interplay between its many elements. I will leave these for you to discover for yourself. Since now you know how. Simply look for relationships between repeated elements or concepts.
The Final plague the eventually results in the freeing of the Israelites from Egypt is prefigured by the institution of the Passover.
The Israelite year is also stipulated to commence.
Just as with the creation account, where the defining covenant of the Sabbath was introduced, another defining practice, "the Passover" is here introduced using the same literary device for emphasis. Similarly where the seven day week was introduced here the start of the Israelite year is here stipulated.
In each instance the attentive reader or student of the passage is given clear clues as to what the most important aspect and purpose of the account is, through using a simple literary structure, to group like elements, to create on final stand alone element or climax to the account.
Previous parts of this Series.
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Delving a little deeper
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Into the detail
Were the seven days of creation in Genesis seven twenty four hour periods? - Some conclusions